Charlie Lester sells LPI— then has a stroke two months later; no joke

(Charlie Lester, taken on Father's Day, with his oldest

daughter Sharon Hess on the left, and his youngest

daughter Melanie Milligan)

Leasing Icon Charlie Lester told us we can now release the news:

"#1.  I am at the office most of the time, but I nap a lot.

"#2.  Yes--I will be happy to write articles for Leasing News in the     

   format you request.

"#3.  I feel good, not great, but good."

A former Leasing News board advisor and a contributing writer with

much inside news has agreed now that he is retired to write a weekly

column, in addition to taking naps at his office.

"Thank you for holding the news.  As you know, in mid-July, I had a mild stroke that put me in the hospital for a few days.  In plain English, I have had a "rapid heart" since my early 20's, but like most medical conditions, it has gotten worse with age and it finally caught up with me in July.

"The recovery was complete as far as we can tell and the doctors are

controlling the irregular heart beat with medication for the time being. If it does get any worse, they will install a pacemaker which only takes about 25 minutes with an entry through the neck. In my situation, it took more time than I would have imagined to get my mindset back to positive thinking and rebuilding the stamina level took almost two months

"Like every bad situation, some good has come of it. The weight is down to somewhere below the Pillsbury Doughboy for a change and my wife Barbara makes sure my eating habits are healthier. With the loving support of my family and God's grace, life is pretty much back to normal and I expect to be around for a long time."

Charlie Lester is President of LPI Financial Services located in

Marietta, GA and has been in the leasing industry since leaving IBM in

1984. In 1986, he founded Lease Pro, Inc. specializing in leasing for

the medical profession. In 1997, Lease Pro was acquired by First Sierra

Financial. In 1999, he resigned from First Sierra and started LPI after

sitting out his non-compete period. Since 2000, LPI in conjunction with

one of the most respected funding sources in the industry has offered a unique one of a kind working capital loan program to medical

professionals through brokers, consultants and direct client marketing.

We featured his company in Pictures from the Past:

http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/September%202004/9-20-04.htm#pic

He has also contributed to Sunday Sermon's:

http://www.leasingnews.org/Sunday_sermon/Receptionist2.htm

And featured articles:

http://www.leasingnews.org/articles.doc/newsletter3.htm

http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Fraud_charges-RW.htm

http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/July%202003/7-07-03.htm#take

Charlie graduated with a Master's Degree in accounting from Virginia Tech in 1965 and became a CPA in 1966 shortly before going to work in sales for IBM. After 18 years in sales and sales management in six different cities, he resigned from IBM in 1984 to raise his family in Atlanta. In 1985, a friend introduced him to the world of equipment leasing, and on May 17,2004 he sold the assets of  LPI Financial Services to LPI Healthcare Financial Services.

" We have not made this public knowledge since we wanted to make the transition to the new ownership before any announcement," he told Leasing News. " Here we are four months later and I doubt very seriously if our sources know about the change since it has gone so well without even so much as a hiccup.  The sources are the same, the funding source is the same and the program is the same.  What more could a transition want?

"For a little background, LPI Healthcare is owned by Kurt Hess, who is

President and heads up sales with Kay Smith as the VP who manages the administrative functions.  Add Kristen Meers who oversees the credit functions and you have the 3-K's.

"To say the least, I am extremely proud of the 3-K's.  Kurt is my son-in-law who has been with LPI for 4 years and has demonstrated an uncanny ability to communicate well with our broker and consultant data base.  Kay has been with me for the past 10 years and there is no better documentation and funding manager to be found. Kristen is doing a great job of managing the credit piece since taking over earlier this year.  To top off the K issue, our super funding source contact's name starts with a K.

"Since the sale in May, funded volume has been consistently higher than it was when I ran the company which shows you what imagination, youth and energy will do for you.  I make a few contributions on the company direction as a consultant, but the 3-K's are the company and deserve the credit.  They are good to the point I am beginning to dislike them.

"Barbara is a Stephen Minister and I am on the Board of Trustees of our church as well as being on the Cobb County Civil Service Board.  A Stephen Minister is a non-denominational "lay" minister who is assigned to be the spiritual care giver on an "as needed basis" for someone going through a crisis in their life. The Board of Trustees helps manage and protect the assets of the church.  The Civil Service Board hears cases and make judgments when Cobb County employees feel they have not been treated fairly by the department they work for.

"You asked me about retirement?  Since I call myself a consultant now, the answer is "yes and no' and I can justify either answer. I'll take on any project that I know nothing about since I do not want to be confused with facts. The real answer, I am slowing up a bit, but if I ever totally stop, it will be time to send flowers and sympathy cards. I have too many friends in our industry to harass."

( And we look forward to his weekly column, where our only direction was: not to write about  politics, religion, or sex, in that alphabetical order of significance.  Anything else he has free rein to comment about. Editor.)

Charlie's e-mail address: clester@lpifinancial.com